In the past, telephone communication between two parties could only be accomplished if both parties were present at their respective telephone hand-sets. However, if the called party was not present at his hand-set, obviously, the calling party would not be able to directly communicate with the called party, or be able to leave a message. This problem has been rectified, of course, by the development and utilization of answering machines. These machines are attached to the telephone instrument and a calling party would be able to leave a message if the called party was not present or unavailable. Recent developments in computer technology have been applied to the communications industry by allowing various parties to be "tied together" utilizing personal computers, modums and telephone communication lines. The personal computers of these systems can be utilized as an electronic mail box to transmit or receive messages even if both parties are unavailable.
However, to fully utilize this electronic mail box system, each of the parties to which a particular message is to be delivered must not only be in possession of a personal computer, but this personal computer must be tied to the same system as the calling party. Furthermore, these systems are relatively impersonal and a message cannot be delivered utilizing the voice of the calling party. Additionally, if the message to be delivered is confidential there is no mechanism for insuring that the message is delivered personally to the intended called party.
Several systems have currently been developed which employ a computer to automatically deliver a verbal message to a number of parties, or to be employed in a multiple private branch exchange. These systems are described with respect to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,371,752; 4,585,906; and 4,602,129, all issued to Matthews and 4,747,126, issued to Hood. The three patents to Matthews are directed to a digital voice mail system interconnecting multiple private branch exchanges of a subscriber with a central telephone office. These systems allow a subscriber to digitally input an audio message into a memory and have this message delivered to one or more called parties. It is important to note that these systems are designed for use in a PBX system and not specifically utilized with a single subscriber telephone line. The patent to Hood illustrates a voice mail system which employs a magnetic tape to record various messages thereon. A central processing unit is coupled to a central office simulator and a telephone circuit. The central processing unit is provided with a microprocessor and a random access memory. A voice synthesis circuit is included for providing prompting messages to the user. However, these systems are designed for use in very complex environment and are not adapted to be used with a single subscriber telephone line.